Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest counts are the ones each agency reported to the FBI, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026. The jail figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data. Every office link was opened and checked against the office's own site on September 24, 2026.
Multnomah County, Oregon, has about 796,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office, two city agencies and five campus, state or other agencies. An arrest leaves the same records whoever makes it: the arresting agency's report, the record of anyone held at the county jail, and, if the District Attorney files charges, a case in the Multnomah County Circuit Court. This guide says who keeps each one, what it costs and who may see it, with the arrest counts each agency reported.
This guide covers who makes arrests, how many arrests, booking and the jail, finding an arrest, copies, cities and common questions.
Related guides: Multnomah County public records, Oregon arrest records, Oregon inmate search and Oregon criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Multnomah County
The Multnomah County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Multnomah County. It reported 3,093 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside two of the county's cities are reported to the FBI by an agency of the city's own, listed here with the Census population and what each reported:
- Portland, 635,749 residents: 13,412 arrests reported for 2025.
- Gresham, 111,507 residents: 1,902 arrests reported for 2025.
A city on that list is reported separately whether the officers are the city's own or the sheriff's under contract; the FBI's list does not say which.
The Lake Oswego Police Department is listed by the FBI across three counties including Multnomah County, so its arrests are not broken out for Multnomah County here.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Multnomah County: the Multnomah County State Police (state police); the Port of Portland and Union Pacific Railroad at Portland (other); the Multnomah County Liquor Commission (state agency); Portland State University (campus police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Multnomah County
The FBI publishes every agency's monthly arrest counts on the Crime Data Explorer. These are the full-year totals, all offenses, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026; a year with months missing or not reported is left out.
- Portland: 13,412 for 2025, 12,178 for 2024, 11,428 for 2023, 10,611 for 2022, 10,148 for 2021 and 13,100 for 2020.
- Multnomah County Sheriff's Office: 3,093 for 2025, 2,898 for 2024, 2,489 for 2023, 2,053 for 2022, 2,189 for 2021 and 1,963 for 2020.
- Gresham: 1,902 for 2025, 1,855 for 2024, 1,390 for 2023, 1,081 for 2022, 1,348 for 2021 and 2,033 for 2020.
Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 18,407 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 18,407 in 2025 against 16,931 in 2024, up 8.7 percent.
Through July 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 11,757 arrests, against 10,763 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Multnomah County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Multnomah County is held at the county jail, whichever agency made the arrest, apart from the short stay some city departments' own holding cells allow; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked at all. The jail's record of each person held, with the charges, is a public record of the arrest, and the court file takes over from there.
On an average day in 2024 the jail held about 930 people, down from about 1,070 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023, the last year with a capacity figure, was 1,117 beds, and it ran at 77 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the jail page of the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office at mcso.us (page title: Multnomah County Sheriff's Office), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 2026.
A person sentenced to prison serves the sentence in a facility of the Oregon Department of Corrections, whose inmate locator is at oregon.gov/doc/victim-services/pages/offender-search.aspx.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Multnomah County
An arrest in Multnomah County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Multnomah County Circuit Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at courts.oregon.gov/courts/multnomah/records/pages/default.aspx, phone 971-274-0570); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at multco.us/departments/district-attorneys-office).
Statewide, Oregon eCourt Case Information is the Oregon Judicial Department's online case search, free for basic case information.
Oregon is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: an Open Record Request returns anyone's Oregon conviction record by name, and the subject is told who asked, for $10 a search, through the Oregon State Police. That record shows what agencies reported to the state, which is wider than one county's court index but can lag it.
Getting a Copy of an Arrest Record in Multnomah County
An arrest report belongs to the agency whose officer wrote it, and that agency releases it, not the court or the jail. Under the Oregon Public Records Law the agency must answer within 15 business days where practicable, after acknowledging the request within 5, and it may charge the actual cost of making the record available.
- An arrest by the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Portland or Gresham: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city; the city guides linked above name each city's records office.
- An arrest by the Multnomah County State Police, the Port of Portland or the Multnomah County Liquor Commission: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Multnomah County Circuit Court, through the court records page at courts.oregon.gov, phone 971-274-0570.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at mcso.us/how-do-i/public-records-requests (page title: Public Records Requests | Multnomah County Sheriff's Office).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Multnomah County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for two of the six cities in Multnomah County: Portland and Gresham. Troutdale, Fairview, Wood Village and Maywood Park have no separate reporting agency in the FBI's list.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Multnomah County Circuit Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Multnomah County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Multnomah County each year?
Portland reported 13,412 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the three agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 18,407 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Multnomah County?
Ask the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at mcso.us.
Where are people arrested in Multnomah County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Multnomah County?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Oregon State Police: an Open Record Request returns anyone's Oregon conviction record by name, and the subject is told who asked, for $10. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Oregon Public Records Law.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Multnomah County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. Under the Oregon Public Records Law the answer is due within 15 business days where practicable, after acknowledging the request within 5; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at mcso.us/how-do-i/public-records-requests.
Is this the official Multnomah County website?
No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official county, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.